


Children of the Moon

by SGreenD



Series: To the Werewolves to Make Much of Time [5]
Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Confused Liam, F/M, M/M, Mason is a Good Friend, Minor Character Death, Oblivious Theo, Peter is Angry, Theo Raeken Has Issues, everybody worries about Theo, hurt!theo, peter is a dad
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-05
Updated: 2021-02-05
Packaged: 2021-03-17 02:34:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 12,414
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29218044
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SGreenD/pseuds/SGreenD
Summary: “Are you gonna finish that?” he asks, pointing at the two bites of sandwich Theo has left.“No. Take it.” Theo pushes the wrapped-up remainder of his sandwich toward Liam, who picks it up and, once his back is turned to Theo, beams at Mason.“A total thing,” Corey whispers. Mason can’t deny it.In which everybody knows Liam and Theo are a 'thing,' the only one who doesn't know is Theo, and Deaton owes Peter twenty bucks. Meanwhile, Peter does not die, but instead makes a few other people dead. Or will have made them dead. Time is a stream, it doesn't matter.
Relationships: Corey Bryant/Mason Hewitt, Lydia Martin/Stiles Stilinski, Scott McCall/Malia Tate
Series: To the Werewolves to Make Much of Time [5]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1017342
Comments: 3
Kudos: 34





	Children of the Moon

**Author's Note:**

> So, one review for "I Was Never Really Here" mentioned their hope for my desire to continue, and, I mean, LISTEN. For the last three months, I have wanted to do NOTHING more than write for Teen Wolf. But my father died and then I had a masters thesis to write (terrible timing, I know) and then there's this whole pandemic thing going on that makes everything ten times harder to deal with. But the thesis is finished, I'm starting to feel more like myself again, and I finally have the time to continue.  
> So, here it is. I thought long and hard about whether to break it up into two chapters, but I just want to get it out there, and the break felt natural here, so now you have a little bit of something to read while I continue writing. Thank you, by the way, for all those kudos and reviews and love. Not to sound melodramatic, but you've really helped me get through the last twelve months.  
> Oh, and FYI, we don't have SATs in Germany, so I know virtually nothing about them and apologize for any inaccuracies.  
> Go on and read now.

Children of the Moon

Part 1

Scott can hear every word Stiles and Theo are exchanging in the parking lot. Theo’s resigned “Just don’t tell Liam.” He sounds tired. Just tired. Then, a key turned in an ignition. A car door slamming shut. The sound of Theo leaving. All the while Noah is sitting behind his desk, staring at the ceiling in complete confusion.

“Jesus,” he murmurs. “Jesus effing Christ.”

“Stiles is coming back,” is all Scott can offer at the moment, and a few seconds later, Stiles returns to the Sheriff’s office and jerks a thumb at the squad room.

“So, Theo’s gone. Anderson’s still here, though.”

“He cleaning out his desk?” Noah asks.

“Yeah, I mean, that’s what it looks like.” Stiles slumps back onto the couch. “Maybe plotting his revenge, who knows.”

Scott sits down next to Stiles. He does not really know what else to do.

“Did he…” Noah begins. “Did he say anything else to you? Out there?”

Stiles shakes his head. “Not really. I tried to make him understand, you know, that it wasn’t his—”

“Yeah, I heard,” Scott says. “He didn’t listen.”

“He just said that he doesn’t want us to tell Liam,” Stiles says. Scott nods slowly, then looks at Stiles, because as much as he loves his best friend, his brother, Stiles has a very big mouth and a very bad filter.

“We’re obviously telling no one about any of this.”

Stiles gapes. “Why are you looking at me like this?”

“Scott’s right,” Noah says, rubbing his eyes. He looks utterly exhausted. “You need to keep your trap shut, son. This is a very, uh… private matter.”

“Hey, I’m not telling anyone, okay. Least of all Liam,” Stiles says, offended. “If Liam found out, I mean, you saw how he reacted when he learned about what Kate did. If he had any idea about what Anderson did to Theo, he’d go over to the guy’s house and rip both of his arms off.”

“True,” Scott says. He does wonder about that. It is only natural for Liam and Theo to grow closer over the last few months. They have classes together, and sometimes Theo picks up Liam and Corey after lacrosse. Theo has become a permanent fixture in the pack, enough so that he has been present the last time they managed to get the entire pack together for a movie night. It makes sense that Theo would be considered a friend, now. Mason and Corey are obviously not afraid of him anymore, and neither is Lydia. So it is understandable that Liam would be upset about what happened, but… well, Liam had not been upset when Scott explained. He had been livid. And when a blood-smeared Peter had carried a lifeless Theo into the clinic, Liam had reached as of yet unfamiliar levels of rage.

So, yeah. Scott will have to keep an eye on that. His mind flashes back to a cramped elevator, a panicking Theo, Liam the only one able to get through to him. He will definitely keep an eye on that.

“So we’re agreed then,” he says.

“What’s been talked about in this room tonight stays in this room,” Noah says, and Scott nods.

“Of course,” Stiles says. “I don’t hate him THAT much.”

Only then Scott hears some familiar footsteps, and a familiar scent hits his nose, of moss and clay and scorched flesh, and he turns around, eyes wide. Stiles looks at him in surprise.

“What? What’s going on?”

“What’s he doing here?”

“Who?”

Peter slips through the door gracefully and leans against it, arms crossed. “Good evening,” he says.

As always when in a room with Peter, Noah’s back goes ramrod straight and his hand comes to rest on his holster. Scott cannot fault him for it, either; the Sheriff knows most of the things Peter has done, and has even been eye-witness for some of them. But Scott knows why Peter is here now.

“So you listened in,” he says.

“Did you honestly expect me not to eavesdrop when you tell me I shouldn’t?” Peter says. “I’m not suddenly gonna start following your orders.”

Noah’s hand on his gun tenses a little, and Peter raises an eyebrow. “Relax, Sheriff, I’m here because of Doctor Evil.”

“Who?” Noah says, confused. Stiles rolls his eyes.

“That’s his stupid nickname for Theo.”

“Look, I know why you’re here,” Scott says. “And I don’t know what we’re gonna do about any of this, but—”

“Well, I have a few ideas,” Peter says. “Only when I think of ripping any body parts off that hideous piss pot stuffing his meager belongings into a cardboard box out there, I’m not thinking about his arms.”

“No,” Scott says and stands up. “Nobody’s ripping any body parts off of anyone. Are we clear on this? Anderson’s been dealt with—”

“Been dealt with,” Peter snarls. “Please. He’s out there, perfectly fine, there’s literally nothing stopping him from going out there and scoping the area for people to rape.”

“We’ll make sure he won’t,” Noah says, also standing up.

“And how would you do that? Put round-the-clock surveillance on his house?”

“Y’know what, you let me handle that,” Noah says. “This is Sheriff business.”

“And how very incredibly effective it is.”

“Peter,” Scott says. “Theo’s safe. He’s not living on the streets anymore, remember?”

“Scott, that’s not the point!”

“And what is the point, exactly?” Stiles inquires.

“Oh, I heard what you said, Stiles. You know perfectly well what the fucking point is. He,” Peter points an angry finger in the general direction of the squad room, “is a goddamned rapist and he’s walking away un-fucking-punished! So he lost his job, big deal. He’ll find another one.”

“And what do you wanna do?” Noah asks. “You wanna go out there and kill him?”

“Yes,” Peter says. “Yes, that is exactly what I would like to do, and it’ll solve the problem once and for all.”

“So you think you can just decide who lives and who dies, huh?” Noah walks around his desk, anger clear on his face, hand still clutching his holster, ready to draw. “You’re a sick, sick man.”

“No, I’m not. He is,” Peter says. “And, considering I’m beyond life and death, now, I think I’d make the perfect man to decide who lives and who dies.”

“No one has the right to do that,” Noah snaps. “Certainly not you.”

“That is NOT what this is about, okay,” Scott says, stepping in between them. “Calm down, okay,” he murmurs to Noah before turning to Peter and repeating it, but with a lot more force and some Alpha emphasis.

“Theo is safe, and we will all, together, make sure he stays that way,” Scott says. “And if Noah says he’ll make sure Anderson doesn’t get away with doing what he did to Theo to someone else, then we’ll trust him, because he’s good at his job and he knows what he’s doing.”

“Safe.” Peter raises his eyebrows. “Really? Is that the word you wanna use? Because Stiles asked the right question a few minutes ago. How many times has that guy pulled off this kind of stunt and got away with it? He’s a—well, he was a Deputy. He knew exactly what to do and whom to do it to so that his nightly activities would stay hidden. And I know his type, and he’ll do it again. And I’m perfectly aware that Doctor Evil will be fine. He’s been living with all of this for ages. He’s walked in and out of this station. He hasn’t felt safe in months. It’s not about him feeling safe. It’s about punishing this pile of human feces in the squad room, and when I say punish, I mean dismember.”

“I mean, I kinda see your point, but,” Stiles crosses his arms, “would you react like this if it happened to someone else you care less about? Cause you keep saying it’s not about Theo, but I’m pretty sure it is.”

“Well, obviously,” Peter says. “And while I know that none of you would have the guts to go through with killing a rapist, I do and I’m relatively sure there’s nothing you can do to stop me if I choose to do it. Oh, Sheriff, come on.”

Noah has raised his gun and pointed it at Peter’s face and Scott feels like his control of the situation is slipping, but Peter just rolls his eyes.

“Are you really gonna continue talking about murder in front of the goddamned Sheriff?” Noah says, and Peter shrugs.

“Like I said, nothing you can do to stop me. Put the gun down, Noah. Your time to take that shot has come and passed.”

Before Scott can begin to unravel that last statement, Peter looks to Scott like nothing has happened and says, “So, that regrouping thing at your mother’s place. Is it still happening or what?”

“Uh, yeah, I think so,” Scott says.

“Great,” Peter says and turns around.

“So you’re coming?” Stiles asks.

“Duh. How could I miss such an exciting event? Plus, I get to see Melissa, always a win. And I need food. Resurrection is no small feat, and I’m starving.”

“Well, my dad’s coming, too, so…”

“Then I’ll see you there, Noah,” Peter says and mockingly salutes him.

“Oh, Peter,” Stiles says before Peter can slip out the door. “Please, for the sake of all of us, before you murder Anderson or anything else. Take a shower?”

********

“We were still about five hundred feet away from the house when I caught her scent. I’d recognize it anywhere. It was Monroe, for sure,” Scott explains. “And I immediately grabbed my phone to call Noah and then I called Liam, but the signal just disappeared, out of nowhere.”

“I was on the phone with you,” Liam says, frowning. “And suddenly you were gone, just like that.”

“Yeah.” Scott shrugs. “So she knew we were there.”

“But we were too far away for commercial heat or motion sensors,” Argent says. “So either she had security cameras installed in a much wider perimeter than I expected, or—”

“Or she knew you were coming,” Lydia finishes. “But how?”

“How does anyone know anything?” Peter says. “Someone told her.”

“But who would know we were there that we missed?” Scott says. “All of the scents I caught, they were in that house. And we didn’t see any security cameras either.”

“They could have been hidden well,” Argent sighs. “Unfortunately, she knows what she’s doing.”

“And then her goons just started shooting at you?” Malia asks from her spot on Melissa’s couch. Scott nods.

“Do you remember what time it was when they started shooting?” Stiles is absentmindedly tapping his chin. “Like, when did you get there? How long was it before they started blasting?”

“Not sure. A couple of minutes? I mean, we got out of the car, we tried to get near the building without being seen, so we walked through that strip of trees on the side, I caught her scent, I called Noah, and then the signal was gone… what do you think?” Scott looks at Argent.

“We got there at exactly 10:45,” Argent says. “The shots were fired roughly ten minutes later, I’d say.”

“Well, that’s certainly interesting,” Peter says. and Stiles makes a confused “hmm” sound.

“What is?” Lydia says, and then turns around as Theo speaks for the first time since leaving with Scott for the Sheriff’s station.

“That’s about the same time that Kate’s goons started shooting at us,” Theo says from his place in one of the armchairs.

Peter nods. “Correct. Which makes me wonder. Because that would be one hell of a coincidence.”

“And the conclusion you just came to is what, exactly?” Derek says. “That Monroe and Kate are cooperating? Yeah, right.”

“It’s absurd,” Argent says, and the Sheriff nods slowly.

“It is. And yet. What if it isn’t?”

“I know it’s ridiculous,” Peter says. “But think about it. Kate’s an idiot, no offence,” he says to Argent, who looks at him, thoroughly unimpressed. “And Monroe is willing to go to any lengths to achieve her goals.”

“And Kate would probably do anything to get to you,” Derek adds, sounding unsure.

“Exactly,” Peter says. “So maybe, just maybe, Monroe made her some promises, and Kate was foolish enough to believe them.”

“So she’d help Monroe?” Liam says. “I don’t get how exactly either of them would benefit from that.”

“I mean, she got to kill Peter,” Stiles says. “Well, ‘kill,’ you know. And she had lots of hunters to help her.”

“She had hunters with her,” Scott says and shakes his head. “And you guys are one-hundred percent sure they were hunters?”

“They looked like hunters, anyway,” Stiles says.

“They smelled like hunters, too,” Malia says.

“That would certainly support the theory that Kate had help from someone,” Argent says.

“If this theory has any truth in it,” the Sheriff says, “I reckon we are in a world of trouble.”

“And how would Monroe benefit from such an arrangement?” Liam asks, and Peter shrugs.

“Gee, I don’t know. Kate would never try to kill any supernatural creatures in Beacon Hills, now would she?”

“Did she really… behead you with a chainsaw?” Corey asks quietly, and Argent shakes his head, making a frustrated sound.

“Yes, well,” Peter says. “That was one experience I could have done without.”

“I don’t know why, but somehow I didn’t think Kate would go that far,” Derek says.

“But she did, so.” Peter took a shower before coming to Melissa’s house, thankfully, so he looks and smells a lot less gruesome. “Just be glad it didn’t take.”

“How is that even possible?” Mason is extremely fascinated with the fact that Peter was dismembered and yet is standing here, in the middle of Scott’s mom’s living room, alive and breathing and all in one piece. “It shouldn’t be possible. Should it?”

Everyone collectively turns to Deaton, who has been leaning against the doorframe and following the conversation in silence. He raises an eyebrow. “No matter how impossible it is,” he says, “it happened. I have to admit I am quite intrigued myself. But as with the question of whether Kate Argent and Monroe are cooperating, we have now entered the realm of speculation.”

“And speculating doesn’t really get us anywhere,” Argent says. “So we have to work with what we have.”

“Which isn’t much, though,” Scott says. “Just a couple of locations and the fact that Monroe knew we were coming, but we don’t know how, or what she’s doing here.”

“Yeah,” Stiles says and yawns. “My head hurts from all that thinking.”

“Your head hurts because you have a concussion,” Melissa corrects him. “So if you’re all ready to wrap up the tactical brief, how about some food? The pizza’s getting cold.”

“God, pizza sounds GREAT right now,” Malia says and pushes herself up from the couch.

“It really does,” Isaac says, and a choir of hungry pack members agrees with him as they all slowly filter into the McCall kitchen to get a few slices. Theo does not move from his armchair, Mason notices. So does Liam, it seems, who taps Theo on the shoulder. Mason can just hear him say, “you want me to get you a plate?”

“Sure,” Theo says. He looks absolutely beat, Mason thinks, and rightly so. Still, as he follows Corey into the kitchen, Liam in tow, he wonders what on earth went on at the station because the awkward tension between Scott, Stiles, and Theo is palpable. When Theo briefly spoke up, Scott flinched, and Stiles averted his eyes to look at the ground, so something happened. Whatever that something may be.

Liam, at least, is consoled. Theo is fine, by the looks of it, just exhausted. And even if he is not fine, Theo probably has the presence of mind to not show all of it to Liam. Everybody saw how completely unhinged Liam got at the sight of Theo on the brink of death and with possible brain damage; they don’t need a repeat performance, especially not Theo, who looks supremely uncomfortable with all the attention he has been getting since the thing with the fear demon.

“How many slices do you think he wants?” Liam asks, and Mason blinks at him, halted in his thought process and, quite frankly, a little exhausted himself.

“Huh?”

“Theo,” Liam says. Mason can see Scott’s lips press together across the kitchen at the mention of the name. “How many slices do you think he wants?”

“He’s probably starving,” Mason says absent-mindedly.

“Yeah, but he also looked a little nauseous just now, so maybe I’ll just get him one for starters,” Liam says. “If he’s still hungry after that, I can always get him another one.”

“Or he could get it himself,” Corey says, squeezing himself between Mason and Liam to reach the soda on the counter. “He’s not an invalid, is he?”

“Well, his legs were paralyzed, so,” Mason says.

“Exactly,” Liam says. “He should probably rest a little.”

“If you say so,” Corey says.

“No one is serving me food in the living room,” Isaac says. “And you have no idea how painful it is to have to grow back skin.”

When Liam opens his mouth to protest, Isaac winks at him and limps back into the living room, telling Theo, “your valet’s on the way.”

“Fuck you,” Theo says, but without any heat behind it; from what Mason knows about Isaac, he and Theo get along very well, and Isaac’s joke has Theo slightly more relaxed by the time Mason, Liam, and Corey return to the living room. Theo accepts the paper plate from Liam with a murmured “thanks” and hesitantly nibbles at the crust of the pizza. Liam’s right, he does look kind of nauseous, Mason thinks. Werewolves who have had to heal extensive injuries are usually ravenous, as evidenced by Isaac and Malia, who inhale their food within minutes and go to the kitchen to get a second serving. Liam, who hasn’t even gotten hurt, is right behind them. But Theo did not just get shot. Mason vividly remembers how Peter explained what Kate did and what may have been done to Theo’s mind as a consequence. Considering what a control freak Theo is, it probably traumatized him quite a bit.

“You want me to get you some water or something?” Mason says.

Theo doesn’t even hear him, so Mason taps him on the shoulder like Liam did earlier. The effect is not quite what Mason expected: Theo jerks away abruptly and almost drops his plate in the process, only just managing to catch it.

“Sorry,” Mason says, drawing his hand away in surprise.

“Sorry, uh, what—what’d you say?” Theo says and rubs his eyes with his free hand. “It’s—I, uh… I’m already half asleep.”

“Don’t worry about it. I just asked if you want something to drink. Water, maybe?”

“Yeah, sure. I can get it—”

“Nah, dude, I’ll get it, it’s fine.”

“Oh… okay.”

Mason makes his way back to the kitchen, where Melissa is already pouring water into plastic cups. She hands him one and asks quietly, “how is he doing?”

“Theo?” She nods. “Well, he seems kinda jumpy. And really tired. I don’t really think he’s hungry, but…”

“Well, see to it that he eats a little?” Melissa gives him a brief smile. “Helps with the healing process.”

“Sure,” Mason says and nods to her. On returning to the living room, he sees Liam carefully taking the paper plate out of Theo’s slack hands, as he has simply fallen asleep curled up in the armchair.

“So much for making him eat something,” Mason says, setting the cup on the table.

“He wasn’t hungry, anyway,” Liam shrugs. He seats himself on the floor next to Theo’s armchair and starts devouring Theo’s abandoned slice of pizza, prompting Corey to snort.

“How much pizza have you had?” he asks. Liam shrugs.

“Didn’t keep count. Still hungry.”

As the evening progresses, more people start following Theo’s example. Malia is fast asleep on the couch, and Peter next to her appears to be dropping off, as well, no matter how much he insists that he is just resting his eyes. In the other armchair, Isaac is spread out like a wet rag, his long legs stretched beneath the coffee table. At some point, Theo gives a low sound of distress that prompts Liam to look at him with a frown.

“Theo?”

Theo turns his head minutely in the direction of Liam’s voice and makes another low sound, but his eyes stay closed.

“What is it?”

No answer. Liam exchanges a look with Mason, and Scott glances over at them with worry. Argent, Melissa, the Sheriff, and Deaton are quietly conversing in the kitchen, and Derek, Scott, and Lydia are sitting by the far side of the coffee table forcing Stiles to stay awake because of his concussion. Stiles frowns, massaging his forehead.

“Is he okay?”

“Not sure,” Liam says. Theo mumbles something and draws his shoulders in a little.

“It’s probably a nightmare,” Derek says. “Isaac used to get them all the time.”

“Shit.” Liam looks at Theo, unhappy.

“Should we wake him up, then?” Stiles asks with a yawn, but Lydia shakes her head.

“He’d probably benefit from a bit more sleep,” she says. “Maybe we can calm him down.”

“Well, okay,” Liam says and looks at Theo again. Before Mason can say anything, Liam shifts a little so he is closer to the chair and puts his hand on Theo’s forearm.

Mason is prepared for Theo to jump and jerk awake, but… nothing happens. After about a minute, Theo’s shoulders relax, and that is that. Liam keeps his hand there for another ten minutes, even though the angle looks rather uncomfortable for him. Nobody comments on it, but Lydia shoots Scott a look heavy with meaning, and Corey appears kind of amused.

Midnight nears, and the Sheriff, Stiles, and Lydia take their leave. Melissa looks at the remainder of the pack in her living room. “You’re all welcome to crash here, you know that, right?”

“Argh, I’d love to, but I can’t,” Liam says. “Promised my mom I’d help her with grocery shopping tomorrow morning, and my mom always goes super early, like they’ll run out of milk after nine.”

“I can give you a ride,” Derek says, standing up and stretching. “Your house is on my way.”

“Great, thanks.”

Liam gets up and shoots a look at Theo, who is sleeping peacefully, before saying good night and leaving with Derek. The fatal flaw in this plan becomes apparent about ten minutes later when Theo suddenly begins making these low sounds of distress again and draws his shoulders in.

“Uh, guys?” Mason says and turns to Scott and Corey, who are currently the only people in the room not asleep. “I think we might have a problem.”

“Damn,” Scott says with a grimace.

“What do we do now?” Corey asks. “Lydia said we shouldn’t wake him.”

Theo shifts in the chair and whines. Mason looks at him, how his eyes and jaw are clenched shut.

“But he seems much worse now than before,” Mason says.

“Maybe it’ll pass…?” Scott sounds like he doesn’t believe himself.

“It’s a nightmare,” Peter says from the couch. His voice is sleep-rough. “Where’s Liam?”

“He left,” Mason says, and Peter looks surprised.

“He did? Well, I guess I did fall asleep for a second there. In that case. Wake him up.”

“You sure?” Scott asks.

“Yes. It’ll only get worse from here.”

Theo whines again, loudly this time. Loud enough for Isaac to jerk awake and blink in confusion.

“Huh, what… where—what?”

As he is sitting directly across Peter, it is him Isaac sees first, and Peter only points to Theo in the armchair next to Isaac. Isaac turns to follow Peter’s pointer and immediately seems to understand.

“Shit,” Isaac says, and runs a hand over his face to rub the sleep away. “We need to wake him up.”

“You sure?” Scott repeats. “Don’t you think he’ll settle—”

“Trust me,” Isaac says and stands up. Mason thinks he can hear Theo murmur, “no, no, no,” under his breath, and whatever he is dreaming about is probably not worth the rest he might be getting. Isaac hesitates briefly and contemplates his next move, it seems, and Mason looks at him expectantly.

“Well? What are you waiting for?”

“I’m not sure how to wake him so that he won’t claw my eyes out.”

Peter sighs. “Just shake him and jump out of harm’s way, Jesus.”

“Yeah,” Isaac murmurs and shakes his head before reaching out and shaking Theo’s tense shoulder.

The reaction is instantaneous. Theo jerks away with a ROAR and turns toward Isaac in what looks like pure instinct to swipe at him with extended claws, only to land rather inelegantly on the floor and knocking over the armchair in the process. His scream is so loud that it wakes up Malia and causes Deaton to rush into the living room, followed by Argent, who has his gun drawn and is scanning the room for threats.

“What’s going on?” Argent says.

“Is everyone okay?” Deaton asks.

Theo is sitting on the floor, gasping, obviously trying to understand what is going on and where he is and why, and Malia blinks at Argent owlishly. “I heard someone scream. What happened?”

“Nothing happened,” Peter says. “Everybody settle down. It’s all good. Doctor Evil just had a teeny-tiny nightmare.”

“Oh, GOD.” Theo buries his face in his hands.

“Didn’t sound so tiny,” Argent says and tucks the gun into his holster.

“A little… screaming meemies.”

“Is everything alright?” Melissa sticks her head into the living room with a worried expression on her face.

“Jesus Christ.” Theo’s embarrassment is muffled by his hands.

“Are you okay?” Isaac asks, and Mason notices that he takes great care not to touch Theo or otherwise cage him in.

“I think I wanna leave now,” is all Theo answers in response, and Peter stands up, nodding.

“Right. I think that’s our cue to leave. Go on, boys.”

Theo climbs to his feet and rushes out the door without looking at anyone. Isaac grimaces.

“Uh… g’night everyone,” he says.

“Take care,” Scott says. Isaac nods and trots after Theo.

Scott looks at Peter. “Is he gonna be okay?”

Peter just stares at him with raised eyebrows. “Is that a serious question?”

“I… I’m sorry. I didn’t want him to…”

“Look, Scott. I know being sorry is your specialty, but in this case it’s not helping. At all.”

“I know, I know.” Scott sighs. “Just… I don’t know. Can we maybe talk about this some other time?” He gestures around himself to insinuate that they are not alone, and Peter shrugs.

“If there is anything to talk about. Pretty sure I already said everything I needed to say. Melissa, thanks for the hospitality.” He pats Malia on the shoulder once. “Sleep well, sweetheart.”

Once Peter is out the door, Argent turns to Scott.

“And what the hell was that all about?”

“It’s… not important.”

“I think it is.”

“But not to you, okay?” Scott says resolutely. “It doesn’t concern the pack.”

“It’s about what you saw in Theo’s mind, isn’t it?” Melissa asks.

“Uh, yeah. So it’s not… it’s not anything we need to worry about. Like, it’s not… no one’s in danger, so.” Scott looks unsatisfied with his own explanation, and Argent is less than convinced, but he gives it a rest.

“Okay then. Well, I don’t know about you guys, but I’m beat.”

“Certainly.” Deaton actually still appears wide awake and contemplative. “I’ll be on my way. Thank you for dinner.” He gives Melissa a polite smile.

“Anytime.” Melissa smiles back at him before looking to Mason and Corey. “What about you guys? You wanna sleep over?”

“No, it’s fine,” Mason says. “We’re gonna go.”

After they say their good-byes and leave the house, Corey huffs in disbelief.

“Did you see—”

“Not here,” Mason says. “We should talk in private.”

“Right,” Corey says and looks back at the McCall house.

Once they are on the road and a safe distance from the house, Corey looks at Mason.

“You saw that, right?”

“What exactly?” Mason doesn’t divert his eyes from the road. He knows what his boyfriend is talking about, but he is not quite ready to acknowledge it yet.

“Uh, how Liam calmed down Theo when he had a nightmare? How Liam was literally the only one Theo allowed anywhere near his chair? How Liam’s like, ‘oh, I wonder how hungry he is? Look, he’s a little queasy, oh, I sure hope he’s okay!’ That. Exactly.”

“Yeah. I guess I saw that.”

“So, do you believe me now?”

Mason doesn’t really know what to say.

“Come on, Mase. It’s pretty obvious by now. Maybe not to those two, but. Come on.”

“Hhh… maybe.”

“Maybe? Liam’s completely in love with that asshole.”

“He’s not…”

“He’s not what? Maybe Liam doesn’t know, but he is. And something’s going on at Theo’s end, too, I mean, he and Isaac are really close, but the second Isaac touched his shoulder, he went into complete freak-out mode, and when Liam did it, it was fine.”

Actually, what Mason had meant to say was that Theo is not an asshole, and he briefly wonders when his perception of Theo shifted like that. But Corey is right, of course. And it has been like that for quite some time, probably.

“Maybe they’re just each others’ anchors.”

“Just?”

“You know what I mean. I know it’s a big deal, but they probably don’t know it yet.”

“I mean, Theo, sure, I’ll bet everything I have that he has no clue. The other day during lunch break, I overheard him asking Liam what ‘happy tears’ are supposed to be.”

“He did?”

“But Liam, like, he knows how it feels to have a crush on someone, or to be, you know, in love. He can’t be that blind.”

“I’m not so sure, to be honest.”

“Well. You know him better than I do. We just have to realize that this is gonna be a thing. Those two. It’s a… a thing.”

Mason wants to say that it is not, but he can’t because, well. It definitely is a thing now.

***********

How much of a thing it actually is becomes apparent the next night. Liam and Mason are sitting on the floor of Liam’s bedroom, having done most of their homework together, except for biology, which Liam says he will do with Theo because “Theo just explains it better.” Vague plans made to study for the SATs have barely begun before Liam says that he “just can’t do this right now.” The pile of notebooks abandoned near the desk, they are playing Mario Kart and Mason is winning every game. Liam is distracted, that much is obvious, but Mason usually has to listen to Liam’s bitching when he loses so he enjoys the silence for as long as he can before he starts to get worried.

“Liam, are you okay?”

“What?” Liam looks at him in surprise.

“Are you okay, dude?”

“Yeah, sure, of course I am—”

“Because I’ve beaten you like ten times in a row now and you haven’t called me an asshole once.”

“It wasn’t ten times,” Liam says with a frown on his face.

“Liam. Liam, look at me.”

Liam pouts and his eyes stay on the controller in his hands.

“Come on. I can tell there’s something on your mind. You wanna talk about it, that’s fine, and if you don’t, that’s also fine, but maybe we should just watch a movie then. I can’t play Mario Kart when my opponent isn’t even paying attention.”

Liam sighs. “Okay, so. Maybe there’s something on my mind.”

“Okay, so, do you wanna talk about it?”

Hesitation is clear on Liam’s face. “Not sure. Do I?”

“It might help, you know.”

“I’m not sure you can help me.”

“Neither am I. We can start with what the problem is.”

Liam fidgets with the controller, not meeting his eyes. “And you one hundred percent won’t judge me?”

“Liam. I love you. You’re like my brother. How on earth would I ever judge you?”

“Okay.” Liam drops the controller. “Hrrm. I guess. So, uh…”

And then he just sits there and stares at his fidgeting hands in silence. Mason stares at him.

“Did you… already say it?”

“Oh God, I don’t know where to start, okay?” Liam stands up and starts pacing the length of his bedroom. Mason looks at him.

“Maybe if you—”

“IthinkI’minlovewithTheo,” Liam blurts out. Mason gapes.

“Mase, you need to say something now, okay, because I don’t really know how to handle this, it’s so… weird and like, how the hell did it even happen, I mean, since when am I attracted to murdering psychopaths, I mean, okay, maybe attraction isn’t the problem, like, have you seen his biceps, I mean, of course you have, you sit next to him in English class, and his eyes, like, do you even know what color they are, but seriously, he killed people, and now I’m like, what, totally fine with that, how does that even—”

Liam stops pacing and buries his face in his hands.

“Mase? Say… say something?”

“Uh, yeah. Sure.” Mason clears his throat.

“You promised you wouldn’t judge me.”

“And I’m not, I’m serious, I’m really not judging you. I just need to process this for a second.”

“Okay.” A beat. “So, what do you think?”

“I think… well, Corey was right, I guess.”

Liam peeks at him. “What do you mean?”

“Last night, he said that you’re totally in love with Theo and that you might even be aware of it, too. I mean, it was pretty obvious, but… I think I need to… apologize? Sometimes I really don’t give you enough credit.”

“Mason, you’ve stopped making sense. What are you talking about? Obvious what? Corey said what?”

Mason collects his thoughts. The last thing he wants to do is hurt Liam’s feelings, or, God forbid, confuse him even more. “Okay. So. Corey had a suspicion that there’s something going on. Between you and Theo. I think he called it a ‘thing.’”

“A ‘thing,’” Liam repeats.

“Yeah. I mean, it was… like, did you not notice how you were basically fussing over him? Bringing him his food and stuff?”

“Well, he was hurt, I was just being—”

“Isaac and Malia got hurt, too, and you didn’t wait on them.”

“But you saw how exhausted he was, I mean…” Liam trails off.

“And then, that whole thing where you managed to calm him down just by touching his arm? And when you went into absolute rage mode after you found out what Kate did? I think by now everyone knows that this might be a… a thing.”

Liam opens and closes his mouth a few times.

“But I… he…”

“It’s okay, though, Liam. Really. I even kinda get it. You spend all that time together, he can be nice when he wants to… I know he’s insanely hot, I’m not blind. And you can be in love with someone and not be okay with what they’ve done in the past.”

“Yeah?”

“Sure, I guess. You like the Theo in the present, not the one in the past, and I get that. Present Theo is… well, I’m not sure I’d call him nice, exactly, but he’s… not bad. He’s smart. And he’s nice to you, anyway, most of the time. Now that we’ve gotten to know him a little, he’s just normal.”

“Just Theo,” Liam says.

“Yeah.”

“I’m not sure I could ever forgive past Theo, though.”

“Yeah, that might be a problem, but uh… maybe focus on present Theo for now. Put a pin in that.”

“Oh, why are we even talking about this,” Liam huffs and drops down next to Mason. “It would need two people for this to be a ‘thing,’ right? And if Theo even likes me, he only likes me as a friend, so all of this is completely pointless.”

“Liam.” Mason turns to look at him. “I love you.”

“Yeah, you already told me that. Weirdo.”

“But you are so…” Mason takes a deep breath. “Do you honestly think this is one-sided?”

“I mean, yeah. Has Theo ever shown interest in anybody? I’m not sure he’s even into guys… I’m not sure he’s into anybody, really.”

“Okay, listen to me. Theo lets you copy his homework, he goes out of his way to pick you up after practice, he always gives you his leftovers at lunch.”

“Yeah, you said yourself he’s nice now.”

“No, I did not say that, Liam, I said he’s nice to YOU. He also likes Isaac, right? As a friend? They live together, they binge Netflix shows together? But after you left last night, Theo had another nightmare, and when Isaac touched his shoulder, Theo basically JUMPED out of the chair.”

Liam stares at him. “So then Isaac did it wrong. You just need to carefully—”

“And earlier, when you tapped him on the shoulder to ask him how much pizza he wanted? Totally cool with that. When I tapped him on the shoulder to ask him if he needed a drink? He almost had a heart attack.”

“But—”

“I think that means that he trusts you, okay? I don’t even think he’s aware of it, but he trusts you. More than Isaac. I mean, think of how big a deal that is. That dude trusts nobody, ever.”

“Do you really think he trusts me? Of all people?”

“Just think of last week. The elevator? Who calmed him down? It wasn’t Scott. Or Isaac, or anybody else. It was you.”

“Yeah,” Liam says and looks at his hands. “I did that, didn’t I.”

“Yes, you did.”

“So… what now?”

“Mmmh?”

“Now that I know this might be a ‘thing’… what do I do about it?”

“Uh.” Mason has no idea. “Do you want to do something about it?”

“I think so.”

“Well… we’ll figure something out, okay? Maybe not now, though.”

“Yeah,” Liam says and looks at his phone. “You’re right, it’s late.” He yawns and stretches his arms out.

“Hey, Mase?”

“Yeah?”

“Do you really think everybody else knows that I’m, you know, in love with him?”

Mason grimaces in sympathy. “Probably. At the very least, Lydia and Scott know. Isaac, too. Not sure how much Stiles noticed, he was pretty concussed. And, well, Corey’s been talking about it for weeks.”

“Talking?” Liam says, alarmed.

“Just to me, don’t worry.”

“Oh man. Like it’s not embarrassing enough to like someone who…” Liam stops and peeks at Mason.

“Do you think Theo knows?”

Mason thinks about it. “Honestly? Considering everything I know about him?”

“Yeah, you’re right,” Liam says. “He was probably the first to know. He always knows everything before I do.”

“I honestly think that in this case, for once, he is absolutely clueless.”

*********

“Whose idea was it to meet for breakfast before class on a Monday morning?” Corey says around a yawn as he and Mason are waiting for their order by the counter. Liam is late, and Theo has made himself comfortable at the table to make sure no one is snatching it away from them. The café is filled to the brim with busy people.

“It was mine, and you know that,” Mason says. Not that he isn’t tired, but the SATs are right around the corner. He tells Corey that, too.

“And if we don’t study hard enough, it’s gonna be a disaster. Between regular school work, fighting the obligatory supernatural threats of Beacon Hills, and trying to find Monroe, we are going to FAIL if we don’t find time to study together.”

“You mean, Liam and I are going to fail,” Corey says. “You and Theo have got this in the bag.”

“We don’t,” Mason says. “I promise you. We need to study, together.”

Maybe Mason is aware that Corey and Liam are struggling more with studying than he and Theo, but really, he knows that he studies better when he is with people working toward the same goal. And if he can support his best friend and his boyfriend in the process of securing himself a higher SAT score, that is even better. As for Theo, well, he doesn’t really seem to care what they do as long as Liam is there.

“I don’t think Theo agrees with you,” Corey says.

“What? No, I know he doesn’t mind studying—”

“I meant, about the ‘together’ part.”

“Well, he’ll be all for it once Liam gets here, I’m sure,” Mason says and Corey grins at him before turning to look at Theo. His eyebrows shoot up.

“Would you look at that.”

Mason turns around to follow Corey’s line of vision. Some guy—some really handsome, tall, Idris Elba type—has seated himself across from Theo and appears to be trying to chat him up. From his place near the counter, Mason can only see the guy’s back and broad shoulders and the outline of his jaw, but he has a perfect view of Theo’s face and how thoroughly unimpressed he looks.

“Are you seeing this?” Corey says, and Mason nods.

“Yeah.”

The guy laughs, then, stands up, and walks away, leaving Theo to simply turn back to the biology book that is spread out in front of him.

“Do you think Theo might actually be into guys?” Mason wonders out loud, and Corey shrugs.

“Well, if he’s into anybody, it’s probably a guy, right?”

“Yeah, I mean, I know, it’s just,” Mason looks at the counter in impatience. How long can it possibly take to get two coffees and a few sandwiches ready? “Have you ever, like, seen him show genuine interest in anybody, in general? Other than—”

He turns around and looks to Theo only to meet Theo’s eyes from across the café. Theo raises his eyebrow and taps his ear.

“Oh.” 

“Oh. Werewolf hearing. Whoops.” Corey grimaces. Their order is finally called, and with the food and drinks, they make their way back to the table.

“Since when, exactly, is it of anyone’s concern if I’m ‘into’ anyone?” Theo asks, using exaggerated air quotes to underline his annoyance.

“It’s not,” Mason says. “It, uh, just came up because the guy, you know, he was—”

“Yeah, well, he left real quick once I told him I’m still in high school,” Theo says. “And I can tell when you’re lying, but you know what? I don’t care. I don’t wanna hear it. Give me my fucking coffee.”

Corey passes him the paper cup and also one of the sandwiches. “Sorry.”

Theo frowns at him. “Sit down.”

“Okay.”

Corey and Mason sit down across from Theo, as the unspoken rule is that, usually, Liam sits next to Theo. Mason is overcome by the thought of what might have happened if Liam had seen someone approach Theo and in the brief rush of horror that he feels, he almost chokes on his first sip of way too hot coffee. Corey gently pats him on the back. “You okay?”

“Wrong pipe.”

“Is Liam showing up, like, anytime soon?” Theo asks. “Because I thought the whole point of this thing was that we drag him through the SATs, and we can’t do that if he’s not here.”

“I’m not sure if dragging is the right term—”

“Haul, carry, whatever you wanna call it. Do we start without him, now?”

“How about we eat first?” Corey suggests. “I’m hungry.”

They are halfway through breakfast when Liam storms in and drops onto the seat next to Theo.

“Sorry, sorry, sorry. I overslept, and then I couldn’t find my shoes, and then I forgot that we’re supposed to study for the SATs, so I had to go back and grab the practice tests, and…”

“We ordered for you,” Mason says and pushes the leftover sandwich over to him, and Liam sighs in relief.

“Thank God,” he says, “I’m starving.”

“When are you NOT starving?” Theo says.

Liam can’t answer him because he has shoved one half of the sandwich into his mouth.

After eating, they start studying, and Liam and Corey struggle through their frustrations at the ambiguous test answers. Mason tries to support Corey to the best of his abilities, while Theo has his hands full with Liam, who automatically gets angry when he doesn’t understand something.

“It doesn’t make sense,” Liam says. “It could literally be A or C, they’re exactly the same.”

“Do you even know what ‘the same’ means?” Theo says. “Because you’re making me feel like you don’t.”

“But they’re saying the SAME thing!”

“So if they’re saying the SAME thing, why are they BOTH there?”

“Because! They SUCK!”

Liam growls in frustration and thumps his forehead on the table. Theo shoots a long-suffering look at Mason, who sighs in commiseration.

“Liam,” Theo says, pinching the bridge of his nose. “Do you care about your SAT scores?”

“Do you care about yours?”

“That’s not an answer.”

“That isn’t, either.”

“Liam, Jesus Christ. Stop whining, and focus.”

“I AM focusing!”

“You’re really not. Look at the question again. LOOK at it.”

Liam glares at him before picking up the test sheet.

“Yeah, fine. I’m looking at it.”

“So, now you’re gonna READ the question, and then you’re gonna READ the answers, and when I say read, I mean, you read every single word in there, and then you will see that A and C are not, in fact, the same, and then you’ll hopefully fucking get it. You need to READ every word. Every single one. Do you understand me?”

“Go to hell,” Liam murmurs, squinting at the test sheet. Theo pinches the bridge of his nose again.

“No need, I am already in it.”

“You’re so melodramatic, you know that, right?”

“You’re an asshole. Read the question.”

It goes on and on like that for almost half an hour, but at the end, Liam has answered six questions correctly, and so has Corey. Mason doesn’t feel like he got any studying done, and Theo, apparently, didn’t even try, instead doing biology homework. At one point, he makes a noise of what Mason takes to be amusement.

“What is it?”

“Nothing,” Theo says. Mason peeks at the page that is opened in the book. It’s human anatomy.

“Is that a spleen?”

“That’s what it’s supposed to be,” Theo says and yawns. He looks tired, and Mason concludes that the screaming meemies didn’t miraculously stop after Friday night.

“Is it wrong?”

“I mean, that’s not really what a spleen looks like.”

“How many spleens have you seen?” Mason asks and then suddenly remembers who he is talking to and wishes he hadn’t said that.

“Only my own,” Theo says like it is the most normal thing in the world and flips open another page.

Mason and Corey stare at him like deer in the headlights.

“That’s gross, dude,” Liam says, and Theo shrugs.

“Wasn’t my idea to look at it. Obviously.”

“Well, if it means you get an A in Bio.”

“Sure, that makes it all worth it, right?”

“Do you think it’ll be relevant for the next test?”

“No.”

“I just thought, if, you know, if I could take a look at your spleen, that might help me get a better grade.”

“Having a functioning brain would help you get a better grade.”

“Uuuh, you know what, we need to leave or we’re gonna be late,” Mason says. They begin packing up their stuff, and Liam nudges Theo’s elbow.

“Are you gonna finish that?” he asks, pointing at the two bites of sandwich Theo has left.

“No. Take it.” Theo pushes the wrapped-up remainder of his sandwich toward Liam, who picks it up and, once his back is turned to Theo, beams at Mason.

“A total thing,” Corey whispers. Mason can’t deny it.

*************

True to Mason’s worries that they won’t have enough time to study, after school they are intercepted by Derek, who tells them that Argent has received some new intel on where Monroe is and that someone needs to join the team that will go check out the new location.

“And also he’s heard that there might be something going on in the sewers, but that wasn’t very specific,” Derek says, and Theo rolls his eyes.

“Loving that intel. So you want me to go check that out?”

“Would be good. Apparently, some sensor was triggered at the Argent bunker.”

“I’ll join you,” Liam says, but Derek shakes his head.

“No, Scott needs you with him.”

“But—”

“Look, Mason and Corey can check out the sewers with Theo. You’re not supposed to do anything, just see if there’s anything there. And if there is, you tell Argent.”

“But if Mason—” Liam begins to protest.

“He’ll be fine, Theo knows the sewers well and if anything does happen, Corey can make him invisible. But Scott and I need you at that other location because it might be where Monroe is. Come on. We don’t have time for discussions right now.”

“Liam, I’ll be fine. We’ll be fine. Go on,” Mason says, and they watch as Liam reluctantly climbs into Derek’s truck and they drive off.

“Oh, the sewers,” Theo says. “Gotta love the sewers.”

Mason does not like the sewers, either, but, well, they’re sewers—they were not created to be liked. So they end up patrolling the sewers instead of studying for the SATs. It’ll be fine, Mason thinks. If they can get in a few more of those early morning study sessions, they can manage. It will all be fine.

“Yeah, these sewers sure are great,” Corey says as they find their way through the smelly tunnels underground.

“If we don’t find anything at the bunker, are we supposed to just walk the entire length of the tunnels?” Theo asks. “Because that could take a while.”

“The intel was vague,” Mason says.

“The intel was a huge pile of shit,” Theo says.

“It’s not great,” Corey says and sighs. “But if it’s important…”

“If it is.” Theo shakes his head. “I don’t like being down here.”

“Does it…” Mason carefully chooses his words. “Does it remind you of the… Skinwalker prison?”

Theo shoots him a glare full of annoyance.

“Do I look like I wanna talk about that? Right now?”

“I mean, maybe. You know, what with the fear dem—”

“Yeah, okay, I’m gonna stop you right there. Just because you saw me have a demon-induced breakdown, that does not mean I’m now gonna pour my heart out to you. It’s just not gonna happen. Especially not here.”

“Okay, I’m sorry. Forget about it.”

“I really wish people would just stop apologizing,” Theo says.

They walk on in silence for a few minutes, before Mason feels it might be okay to gently probe the subject again. Honestly, he has no reason to be afraid of Theo anymore, not after all this time of going to school with him and watching him force Liam to study, so the worst that can happen is that Theo is annoyed, and Theo is annoyed with all of them quite a lot.

“I get why you don’t wanna talk to us about it,” Mason begins, and Theo drops his head in resignation.

“But are you—do you talk to anyone about it? Peter, maybe? Or Isaac?”

“No.”

“Maybe you should.”

“Maybe I shouldn’t.”

“Well, I just thought that if I’d been to hell, I’d probably talk to someone about it.”

“Yeah, but you haven’t, and you never will,” Theo says. “So maybe you’d like to not talk about it now.”

“Maybe you’d like to talk to Liam about it,” Corey suggests, and Theo groans.

“No.”

“Considering he… gripped you tight and raised you from perdition,” Corey says with barely suppressed mirth.

“Am I supposed to know what that means?”

“No, no, no worries,” Mason says, but can’t suppress a grin as he exchanges looks with Corey.

“Okay, great, well, here’s the bunker.”

Theo looks from left to right and squints into the dim light. “And surprise of surprises, there’s nothing there.”

“You picking up a scent or something?” Mason asks. Theo shakes his head.

“Nothing, just general… sewer smells.”

“You know, I don’t like being down here, either,” Corey says and crosses his arms.

“Yeah,” Mason says and reaches out a hand that Corey grabs gratefully. “Since there’s nothing here, maybe we should just go. Tell Argent that there’s nothing to be found.”

“Maybe I’ll pick something up along the way,” Theo says, seeming eager to leave.

As they find their way back, Mason is reminded of his and Theo’s run-in with the Anuk-Ite right in these tunnels, really not far from here, if his sense of orientation is not playing tricks on him. Theo didn’t care about them back then. Not really. But he sure as hell cares about Liam now. Even back then, Mason thinks, he’d constantly been looking out for Liam. It didn’t quite make sense how much he tried to keep Liam out of trouble, how much energy he’d invested in preventing Liam from doing things he would regret when the Anuk-Ite was feeding into Liam’s anger and fear. Back then, Mason assumed that it was a guilty conscience that motivated Theo to do so, but Theo, despite the guilt he must be feeling, which the fear demon exposed, doesn’t ever actually let any of his guilt show. Especially not back then. So that couldn’t really have been—

“What’s wrong?” Corey suddenly asks, and Mason blinks and looks at him. Corey is frowning at Theo, who has come to a halt a few feet behind them.

So naturally, Mason looks to Theo, and Theo—well, he looks worried.

“Something’s coming,” Theo says.

“Something?”

“Someone.”

“Someone is coming?” Mason repeats. “Can you hear them?”

“No.”

“Scent them?”

“No.” Theo gulps. “It’s just a… I just know.”

“Oh.” Mason says. Well, that’s bad.

“Do you know who it is?”

“No, but—we need to leave, okay, we need to leave, like, right now.”

“Okay,” Mason says, and they proceed to walk, picking up the pace toward the nearest exit. He can almost feel the urgency Theo is exhibiting. He really hopes that it is just a few hunters, because those Theo can handle on his own, but anything bigger than that, and they are going to have a problem.

“Such a stupid idea,” Theo murmurs to himself. “Oh, hey, we’ve got some super-vague intel that there’s something in the sewers, why don’t you go check it out with two guys who are useless in a fight and how about absolutely no back-up? Stupid. STUPID.”

“It’ll be fine, we’re almost out,” Mason says, just to say something.

“I’ll fucking rip Argent and Derek a new one for coming up with such an unspeakably stupid idea,” Theo says. As they turn right and enter a long straight tunnel, at the end of which Mason knows is an exit, Corey relaxes a little next to him, only to immediately freeze again. Theo in front of him does the same.

“What is it?” Mason says, only for both Theo and Corey to shush him.

“You heard that?” Theo breathes, and Corey nods.

“Well, shit.” Theo looks around. “Okay, you know what, turn invisible, the both of you. Whoever it is that’s following us won’t—”

Theo’s face briefly spasms with what looks like real fear, but he swallows it. “—won’t see you until you’re almost out. I think I can hold them off long enough.”

“Hold them off?” Mason says. “But what about you?”

“Jesus Christ, go!” Theo grabs Mason’s sleeve and pushes him forward roughly. Mason almost trips, but Corey manages to catch him.

“Do you know who it is now?” Corey asks, and Theo sighs.

“Yes. You need to disappear.”

Corey grabs Mason’s hand, and they turn invisible. “Come on,” Corey whispers to Mason and drags him along as Theo turns around to look at the tunnel intersection where he undoubtedly hears their pursuer approaching.

Mason and Corey are approximately halfway between Theo and the exit when Theo begins speaking.

“Somehow I’d assumed you left town,” he says.

“And somehow I’d assumed you were dead,” a female voice answers him and Mason’s heart briefly stops beating because that voice does not belong to Monroe, so it must be—

“Seems like people don’t wanna stay dead in this town,” Theo says, and Kate laughs.

“Don’t I know it. Well? What are you doing here? And why are your friends invisible?”

“None of your concern. We were just leaving.”

“Yeah, I don’t think so.”

Corey pulls on Mason’s arm with more insistence as noises of a fight break out behind them, but Mason hesitates.

“Mason, come on,” Corey pleads with him.

“But Theo,” Mason protests.

“He can take care of himself, but YOU can’t.”

“But we can’t just leave him.”

“We’re not doing that. Please. Mason. I just need to get you out of this tunnel, okay?”

A roar of pain echoes through the tunnel that Mason immediately recognizes as Theo’s, so he can’t help but turn around. If anything happens to Theo and he just walked away, he’s pretty sure Liam will murder him. He just sees Theo slowly getting up from a crouched position on the floor, and Kate bears her fangs, charges at him, and full-on tackles him to the floor.

“Mason!” Corey says, not even trying to be quiet anymore.

“Y-yeah, okay,” Mason says because Theo is not moving, and now Kate is looking up and right at them, even though she can’t really know that. “Let’s get out of here.”

“Where are you, little angles?” Kate says and her claws pull out of Theo’s stomach with a terrible squelching noise. “I can hear you, I can smell you, but I can’t see you.”

Corey carefully keeps Kate in his eyeline, walking backward, pulling Mason along. How exactly they are supposed to get out now without Kate seeing is a mystery to Mason, and, well, he admits this is probably his fault. Theo told them to go, and if Mason had just LISTENED, then they would be outside now and—but then again, Kate could have followed them, she has mastered the feat of climbing a ladder, as far as Mason knows. So then again, this is just one of those things that is nobody’s fault. It just sucks.

“Where are you?” Kate has stood up and is walking toward them as they are walking backwards, toward the exit they have no chance of reaching.

“You know you can’t hide forever. I can hear you, I can smell you. Eventually I’ll find you.” As she gets no answer, she sighs. “You know, it’s no fun like that. I’m not a fan of hide and seek. I prefer playing catch.”

“What—argh—what do you want with them, anyway,” Theo says, laboriously sitting up. “They’re boring… shit… boring little assholes. Leave them be.”

“Why would I? When it’s my heart’s desire to extinguish the stupid fucking McCall pack from this earth? And they’re part of it?”

Theo groans as he tries to climb to his feet. Mason can see that the front of his shirt is a bloody mess, but he seems to be healing.

“And who put that desire there?”

“What?”

“Was it—ouch—Monroe?”

Kate laughs. “Right. Monroe. The psycho who wants all of us dead. What are you talking about?”

“Just a thought,” Theo says.

“You think too much,” Kate snaps. “Enough thinking. Listen, you little shits. If you don’t show yourselves, I’m gonna kill that freak over there, okay?”

“Don’t fucking show yourselves,” Theo orders.

“Show yourselves!”

“Don’t do it.”

“SHOW—”

“Don’t listen to that fucking bitch.”

Impatience clear on her face, Kate turns around. “You’re not seriously trying to make me angry, are you?”

“Is it that easy? …Bitch?”

Mason thinks he understands what Theo is trying to do, so when Kate stalks over to Theo, away from them, he tugs on Corey’s sleeve and mouths “run.”

They start in the same second, and Kate hears them, turning around, but then Theo is on her back and they are fighting, and Mason doesn’t look again, only hears the pounding of his pulse in his ears, and they are almost at the ladder and then one of them will have to go first because they can’t climb the ladder while holding hands, and when they are at the ladder—they’re at the ladder!—that leads to the hatch to the outside world, Corey makes the decision for him by letting go of his hand and PUSHING him forward, and there is no time for discussing it so Mason starts climbing and he climbs as fast as he can but all of this must be taking a lot of time and he hears roars of pain and anger in the distance and how far up is he is Corey behind him—

A shout of pain is suddenly right there beneath him and someone with claws grabs his ankle and tugs with enough force that Mason immediately loses his grip on the ladder and crashes to the tunnel floor. He lands with a thud, and the pain in his back almost knocks him out, but he stays conscious and can’t decide whether that is a good thing or not as Kate’s clawed fingers wrap around his throat and drag him away from the ladder.

“You’re a human,” Kate says. “Why are you keeping this kind of company?”

She drops him somewhere near the middle of the tunnel, and Mason hits the floor with a loud OOF and starts gasping for air. When he turns his head to the left, he can see Corey in a motionless heap.

“Well, I reckon this means you’re part of the pack. So I’ll kill you, too. I’ll make it quick, I promise. But first you get to watch me kill the freak and then that invisible guy.”

“No,” Mason croaks.

“Oh yes,” Kate says, already walking over to Theo, who is even more of a bloodied mess than before and lets out suppressed whines of pain every few seconds.

“Why are you doing this,” Mason asks. “Like… why… why…”

“Some of it is business, some of it is pleasure. I have no idea how you figured out the deal with Monroe, though,” Kate says, kneeling over Theo. “You know, after everything that’s been done to you, I’m impressed your brain is still so very intact.”

“Fuck… you,” Theo gasps.

“Do your friends know?” Kate asks with a sadistic grin. Know what?, Mason wonders. That he was a psychotic killer? A science experiment? That he had been abducted by the Dread Doctors when he was a child and that’s why he knows what his own innards look like? Sure, they know all of it.

Theo swings at her, but even from Mason’s perspective it looks pathetic, and Kate simply pins his wrist to the ground and keeps talking. “I guess that’s a no? Would you like me to tell them?”

“Go… to… hell.”

“Would you like me to explain how many different times you were hurt by how many different people? All the things those creepy creatures made you do?”

Theo growls at her, but it sounds weak, and there is so much blood. Shit, Mason thinks dimly. This is it, isn’t it. This is how I die. In a sewer, after watching Kate torture Theo and Corey to death.

“I mean, the homeless guy who wanted a piece of you didn’t surprise me, but a Sheriff’s deputy? That’s messed up, isn’t it?”

“You know… know why you’re such… a bitch?” Theo mumbles.

“Enlighten me.”

“Cause… cause your daddy did—didn’t… LOVE you enough,” Theo gasps and makes a sound that is probably supposed to be laughter. The sadistic grin drops off Kate’s face like someone has flipped a switch.

“Prob-probably loved your br… broth—fuck—your brother a lot more’n you.”

“He did NOT,” Kate snaps.

“Didn’t hug… hug you more’n once… once a year cause you’re s-s-such a disapp… pointment to him, huh?” Theo rasps. “An’ like, look at… at you now… a monster like the r-r-rest of us.”

“SHUT UP!” Kate hisses and digs her claws into his chest. Theo shrieks in pain.

“I know what those creatures did, they gave you a new heart,” Kate growls. “So how about I undo that for you? That’s gonna be quite the show.”

She drives her claws deeper and deeper, Mason can see. Theo screams, no bravado left, no room for clever comments. He knew exactly which buttons to push, Mason wonders in that dim state of shock in which he finds himself. But there is no more room for that now. Theo’s next scream is so loud it seems to bounce off the tunnel walls and pierce Mason’s ears like a dagger. This is it, he thinks again. First she’s gonna kill Theo, then Corey, then me. And since apparently that is not terrible enough, now he has to watch her rip Theo’s heart out.

Only suddenly there’s something at the edge of the tunnel that Mason can’t really see. He cranes his neck to catch movement that Kate misses, as engrossed as she is in her task of disemboweling Theo, and before Mason can really understand what is happening, Peter Hale grabs Kate by the neck and throws her several feet through the air like she weighs nothing.

Kate lands on her hands and feet and then stares at Peter like she has seen a ghost, which, technically, she has. For a moment, there is no sound in the tunnel other than Theo’s painful wheezes as Kate and Peter have a stare-down. The way Peter looks—eyes glowing an electric blue, rage etched into his face—Mason has never been so afraid of him and so happy to see him at the same time.

“You’re dead,” Kate eventually says.

“Not quite.”

“But you ARE.”

“It’s a matter of definition, I guess.”

“I killed you.”

Peter shrugs. “Semantics.”

“But… but…” Kate is at a loss for words, not that Mason can blame her.

“It’s fine, you’re not going crazy. I’m really here.” Peter kneels next to Theo and puts a hand on his elbow, just above the permanently present bandages, and as black lines travel along Peter’s arm, Theo starts to breathe a little easier.

“Th… thanks,” he rasps.

“How is this possible?” Kate says, sounding decidedly less sure of herself than she did a few minutes ago, and Peter sighs.

“Oh, if I got a penny every time someone’s asked me that question. You don’t need to care about it, though.”

Letting go of Theo, Peter stands up and walks toward Kate, who takes a few steps back.

“All YOU need to care about right now is that you are the dead one here.”

“What are you talking about?”

“You’re already dead. I mean, isn’t that magical? I’m gonna kill you, which means I already have. Time is… a stream, and you are a little boat navigating on that stream, but I, well, I am the one who is standing at the shore getting ready to sink you.”

“Peter, I know things have been tough for you, but is it maybe possible you’re losing it?”

“I know I’m gonna kill you. I saw you on the bridge last night. Which means you’re already dead, you just don’t know it yet.” Peter laughs. “Isn’t that fucking hilarious?”

“What? What bridge? What the hell are you saying?” Kate says, stumbling back.

“You’ll find out soon enough, sweetheart. Now how about you stop pushing around teenagers and just fight me? One on one, no goons, no guns, no chainsaws. Just you. And me.”

Kate takes another step back, suddenly not keen on fighting at all. Mason knows it is because she knows she is going to lose. And Peter knows, too.

“It’s okay to be afraid, Kate. But you’re gonna fight me, and you’re gonna die. It’s your destiny. No need to run away from it.”

Peter throws himself at Kate, and this fight sounds even more brutal than the one between Kate and Theo, as there are no holds barred; Peter can’t die, after all, so he has literally nothing to lose. Mason turns his head as he hears shuffling from the other side of the tunnel. Theo is slowly, carefully rolling around onto his stomach.

“You okay?” he says, then flinches. “Shit.”

“I don’t know,” Mason says, feeling a little dazed. “My back hurts.” He swallows thickly. “Is Corey okay?”

“His heart is beating steady,” Theo says. “I think he’s just unconscious.”

“Okay, good, that’s good. How… how about you?”

“I think—shit—I think I’ll be fine. Healing’s already kicking in, uh, Peter… Peter taking my pain h-helped.”

The sounds of fighting abruptly come to a halt. Mason sees that Peter has Kate pinned to the ground.

“What am I gonna do with you?” Peter muses. “I mean… I don’t really want to get creative here… and ripping your throat out didn’t work the first time, so.”

Kate does not reply, instead struggling to get away. Peter hums.

“Well, see, most of your family is already dead, safe for your brother, and he’s not really your family anymore, is he. So an eye for an eye is out of the question. But how about a head for a head?”

Mason is still trying to process what exactly Peter means when Kate begins shouting, “no, no, NO, NO!” and starts screeching. Mason can see that Peter has her head in an insanely tight grip, and Kate’s eyes are so wide they look like they are about to pop out of their sockets, and beyond Kate’s screaming there is this low, but terrifying, stomach-turning sound that Mason has never heard before; if he had to liken it to anything, it would be the sound of tearing paper.

“Mason. Mason. Mason,” Theo says, and Mason looks at him.

“Don’t look, okay?” Theo says. “Don’t look. Just—just close your eyes. Put your hands on your ears. Just do it.”

And Mason doesn’t want to see it and doesn’t want to hear it, so he does what Theo says, and at least this terrible sound is now blocked out, although he can still hear Kate screeching, and then gurgling, and then—nothing. A dull, wet thud, muted by his hands. He doesn’t want to see.

Mason keeps his eyes and ears shut for a while longer, he has no idea how long exactly. At some point, someone shakes his shoulder, and when he opens his eyes, he is looking at a bleary-eyed, disheveled Corey.

“Hey,” Corey says; Mason can read it on his lips. “It’s over.”

Slowly, Mason lowers his hands and sits up to hug Corey.

“Thank God you’re okay.”

“Yeah. Come on, let’s get out of here.”

Mason carefully climbs to his feet and realizes that his back really hurts and his right ankle is killing him. Theo appears at his side, shirt in tatters, and some angry red wounds still visible on his chest, and says, “let’s go.” He puts one of Mason’s arms around his shoulders, and Corey takes the other one.

“Close your eyes,” Theo orders again. “I’ll tell you when to open them.”

“But what about—”

“You don’t wanna see it,” Corey says.

Together, they stumble along, and Mason can hear footsteps in front of them that must belong to Peter. There’s some weird hidden desire within him to open his eyes, to just see what he knows Peter has done, some morbid fascination with death, some dark curiosity that he is too smart to give in to. It nags at him, but Mason keeps his eyes closed until Theo tells him to open them again.

“Are you gonna be okay to get up the ladder?” Corey asks.

“Not sure… I guess I’ll have to try.”

“Don’t really see another way out right now,” Theo says. “Just don’t look back.”

Mason wants to, but doesn’t. The climb up the ladder is a slow and painful process, as his back is throbbing, and his ankle feels broken. He can just hear Theo and Corey talk at the foot of the ladder.

“What are we gonna do with…” Corey says.

“Not sure. We need to tell Argent, I reckon he’ll figure something out.”

“Yeah… are you, like, okay?”

“I’m fine, dude, you’ve been knocked out forever, you should worry whether YOU are okay.”

“It’s just that, you know, it looks like Kate tried to—”

“—turn me inside out? It’s fine, I’m already healing.”

Corey sighs. “Okay, good. I guess.”

“Just climb the fucking ladder, Corey.”

Once Mason gets to the top, a blood-spattered Peter gives him a hand and pulls him the rest of the way up and onto the street.

“Thanks,” Mason murmurs. The sudden onslaught on sunlight stings in his eyes. Everything seems kind of surreal for a moment.

“You’re experiencing a little bit of shock, kid,” Peter says. “You’ll be fine, just sit down for a moment.”

“Uh,” Mason says and is resolutely pushed into a sitting position on the sidewalk. He can see first Corey and then Theo climb out of the manhole. Mason can hear the sound of an approaching car and wonders who Peter called for help. Surprisingly, it is Deputy Parrish who gets out his squad car and rushes over to them.

“I got here as fast as I could,” he says.

“You did?” Peter squints at him.

“Yes. Where’s Lydia?”

They all stare at him.

“What do you mean?” Theo eventually asks.

“What do you mean, what do I mean? Where’s Lydia?”

“She’s… in Boston, I guess?” Corey says slowly.

“What? But I heard a banshee scream.”

“Well, she flew back to the East Coast with Stiles yesterday, so it wasn’t her,” Theo says, and then Peter starts laughing.

“What’s so funny?” Theo asks as Peter laughs and laughs and laughs so hard he has to sit down next to Mason.

“I was right, oh Jesus, I was right,” Peter says. “Deaton owes me twenty bucks.”

“What are you talking about?” Theo asks, so Peter looks at him with a grin.

“You’re the banshee, kiddo.”


End file.
